Quantum Tape Drive LTO-3 - Manual (Page 52)

Chapter 4 Theory
Data Compression
38 LTO-3 Tape Drive User’s Guide
Software data compression should never be used because the LTO-3 Tape
Drive's built-in intelligent data compression is much more efficient than
software data compression systems.
The LTO-3 Tape Drive uses a derivative of ALDC-2 lossless data
compression that includes additional control codes for intelligent data
compression.